Fig. 8
Expression of macrophage MGLL is decreased in carcinoma tissues and positively correlated to the survival of patients with CRC. a Representative images from immunohistochemical staining of CD68+ cells (macrophages) in adjacent normal tissue and carcinoma tissue. The corresponding area of infiltrated macrophages was stained with MGLL antibody on the consecutive slides. MGLL expression in macrophages in carcinoma was much lower than that in adjacent normal tissues. The representative areas of macrophages at higher magnification are displayed in the red square areas. The scale bar at higher magnification represents 50 μm and at lower magnification represents 200 μm. b The statistical data were obtained from immunohistochemical staining analysis of 30 samples from 30 patients. The data represent the means ± s.e.ms. (n = 30, ***P < 0.005, Student’s t-test). c–e The relative mRNA expression of MGLL (c), CB2 (d), and TGFβ (e) in macrophages from the carcinoma tissues or adjacent normal tissues. The macrophages were isolated from fresh carcinoma tissues or adjacent normal tissues from CRC patients who underwent surgery, and the macrophages were subjected to real-time PCR assays. The data represent the means ± s.e.ms. (n = 15, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.005, Student’s t-test). f–g Overall survival of patients with CRC with differential expression of MGLL (f) or CB2 (g) in TAMs. The investigated patients were classified into two groups according to the mRNA expression of MGLL or CB2 in TAMs. The 50% of patients with high TAM MGLL or CB2 expression were assigned to group MGLLhi or CB2hi, respectively. The remaining patients with low TAM MGLL or CB2 expression were assigned to group MGLLlo or CB2lo, respectively. The overall survival time of the patients were obtained via follow-up visit (n = 53, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.005, Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test)
